Classic Films to Expand Your Cinematic Horizons (2024)

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The original "sweeping epic," this film stars Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara, the plucky Southern belle who romances Clark Gable's Rhett Butler against the backdrop of the Civil War. It’s one of the most indelible films ever made, and though it has been criticized for its racial politics, supporting actress Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award. (It also won best picture in what might arguably be the most crowded field in the history of the Oscars, beating The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, Stagecoach, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, among others.)

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There’s no place like home, and no classic movie as beloved as Dorothy’s adventures in Oz. The film left its imprint on the kinds of narratives and character types—wicked and good witches, scarecrows, tinmen, and cowardly lions, oh my—we see on film. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” sung beautifully by Judy Garlard, is the cherry on top.

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Casablanca is up there with the Godfather for most quoted screenplay of all time. This WWII classic, directed by Michael Curtiz, pairs Scandinavian beauty Ingrid Bergman with tough guy Humphrey Bogart for a story of lovers ripped apart by war and reunited in a far flung Moroccan piano bar—of all the gin joints in the world.

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A favorite of dorm-room posters and Halloween costumes, Blake Edwards’s comedy about girl-about-town Holly Golightly helped turn Audrey Hepburn into a fashion icon, thanks to her long black gown, elegant up-do, and signature black sunglasses. (She nails a trench coat too.) Adapted from a Truman Capote novel, it’s one of the most stylish films of the 20th century.

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David Lean’s 70mm desert epic stars Peter O’Toole in the sweeping film about T.E. Lawrence, the British archaeologist, military officer, and World War I liaison to the Ottoman Empire. It was shot in Morocco, Spain, Jordan, and England—try to catch those stunning locations and O’Toole’s baby blues on the big screen if you can.

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This musical about New York City gangs was directed by choreographer Jerome Robbins and Sound of Music director Robert Wise. The Sharks and the Jets dance their battles on the streets in this modernized take on Romeo and Juliet. The songs by Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, are some of the best of the era.

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It's not easy living up to the title of "best film ever made," but Orson Welles’ depiction of a mad publishing billionaire really did remake an industry. Welles pioneered filmmaking techniques of deep focus and chiaroscuro lighting. He was inspired by the life story of publishing scion William Randolph Hearst, but you’ll have to watch it to see what exactly “Rosebud” means.

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Alfred Hitchcock’s experiment with exploitation cinema proved the Master of Suspense to be the Master of Marketing, and became his most notorious film in a career of classics. It also changed showers forever. Anthony Perkins’s Norman Bates is still one of the most memorable screen weirdos of all-time, and Bernard Herrmann’s screeching strings left a lasting influence on movie scores.

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Hollywood icon James Dean only starred in three films during his short life. Rebel Without A Cause, directed by Nicholas Ray, is the most memorable, and one of the earliest cinematic depictions of teen angst. Dean’s co-stars in the film, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, also met tragic early ends, which gives the film a mythical status.

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The iconic Sidney Poitier stars alongside Claudia McNeil and Ruby Dee in this classic adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking play—the first by a Black woman ever to appear on Broadway—about a Chicago family whose lives are on the brink of changing with the promise of a major financial windfall in the form of a life insurance check.

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Otto Preminger’s Laura is a blend of film noir and family melodrama that stars the stunning Gene Tierney as the titular Laura, a murder victim with whom the detective falls in love while investigating her death. This twisty tale features an array of wonderful character actors in supporting roles, including Clifton Webb and future horror impresario Vincent Price.

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For 1939, George Cukor’s The Women—about divorce, fashion and complicated female intimacies—was awfully forward thinking. Plus, no men have speaking roles in it! Starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell, The Women should be your next girls’ night movie selection (but feel free to skip the 2008 remake).

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The first film of Francis Ford Coppola’s epic Mafia trilogy, adapted from Mario Puzo’s book, launched Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro to superstardom, and brought us a whole new Marlon Brando as Don Corleone. The film that inspired a thousand marble-mouthed Brando impressions, it’s the mob movie you can’t refuse…

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William Wyler’s World War II film has become the gold standard for films about soldiers who return home from the front and find reintegrating into life isn’t all that easy. The film even co-stars real war vet Harold Russell, who lost his hands, and won an Honorary Oscar for his performance.

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The nostalgic musical Meet Me in St. Louis might contain Judy Garland’s best screen performance. She stars as Esther Smith, one of four sisters reluctant to uproot their Midwestern lives and move to New York. Her performance of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” made the song a holiday standard, and she met her future husband, director Vincente Minelli, on the set.

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Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn exploring Rome? Swoon. In William Wyler’s film, Peck plays a journalist who happens upon Hepburn, an incognito princess hoping for a bit of freedom. Hepburn won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in one of the most beloved romances of all time.

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Perhaps the best known of acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa's fils, this story of a bandit-plagued village who enlist the help of seven samurai to protect them is considered a seminal work of film-making (if the premise sounds familiar, it's because it served as inspiration for a western classic, The Magnificent Seven, as well.)

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Marilyn Monroe had many memorable roles, but Billy Wilder’s cross-dressing comedy demonstrated her sharp comedic chops the best. Co-starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, who don drag in order to hide from mob assassins, Some Like It Hot is one of the funniest movies of the 20th century.

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This fast-talking rom-com directed by Frank Capra invented the genre known as the “screwball comedy” way back when movies with sound were still called “talkies.” In one of the first road movies ever, Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert embodied a sexy, mature, smart relationship that was surprisingly forward-thinking for its time.

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One of the last great roadshow musicals, The Sound of Music, directed by Robert Wise, stars Julie Andrews as the trainee-nun-turned-governess Maria, based on the real-life wartime adventures of the Von Trapp family singers. The songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein make this musical one of the most beloved of all time.